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Weir has no plans to revise its bid for Metso

Engineering giant Weir has indicated that it will not revise or hike its bid for Metso, even as its £3.2 billion bid has already been rejected by the Finnish rival.

In March, Glasgow-based Weir approached Metso with a £3.2 billion bid for all-share merger deal, but the Finnish firm turned down the offer. There has been speculation that Glasgow firm would have to hike its bid to as much as £4.3 billion to secure the desired deal.

But, Weir Group Chief Executive Officer Charles Berry on Thursday told shareholders that nothing had changed regarding the bid since last month.

Responding to a question regarding the merger deal with Metso, Mr. Berry said, "The answer is that nothing has changed. On 16 April we made some comments to the market, and nothing has changed since then. There is no certainty that we will revise the terms of our proposal."

Weir CEO also confirmed that oil & gas sales of the group jumped 33 per cent in the first quarter of this year; while after-market mining sales jumped 4 per cent. However, orders for the group's mining equipment slipped 27 per cent, reflecting general weakness across the sector.

A successful merger deal with Metso would have significantly boosted Weir's minerals division, which the biggest revenue generator in the group. A deal would have added so-called "comminution" machinery that is used to crush rocks to Weir's portfolio. Weir has operations in as many as 70 countries around the globe, and generates a vast majority of its revenues from markets outside the UK.